"All I did was give them a choice."

  — Rengoku

  --

  Some civilians actually let out nervous giggles. But then their faces fell.

  Because they couldn't run.

  If they fled now, the Grass shinobi would punish them ter — beatings, prison, or maybe worse. They were trapped between fear of Otis and fear of their own vilge.

  They had to hope their own vilge won this fight.

  Otis could see it in their eyes.

  He sighed.

  "I gave a choice," he murmured. "Don't bme me for what happens next."

  But deep down, he didn't want any of them to back off.

  He wanted the guilty ones to swing first.

  And they did.

  "ATTACK!""Kill him!""For the vilge!""Don't let him breathe!"

  The first volley of kunai and shuriken sliced through the air.

  Otis didn't even blink.

  He raised his shield.

  CLANG—!!!

  Metal rang out like a thundercp as dozens of bdes ricocheted off the shield's surface.

  At that same moment, hidden on a distant rooftop, an earth clone of Otis flicked its fingers.

  Tiny chakra stones, no bigger than fingernails, shot forward like bullets, striking the ankles of the first line of attackers.

  SNAP

  SNAP

  SNAP

  SNAP

  Every ninja in the front line screamed, stumbling forward and crashing face-first into their own allies.

  "AAAGH—! My leg!!""What the hell!??""I can't stand—!!"

  Chaos rippled through the formation instantly, a wave of bodies colpsing and tripping over each other.

  Otis pressed one hand to the ground and released a massive surge of chakra into the earth.

  He whispered:

  "Earth Release… MOTHER WORM."

  (Pic)

  For a moment, there was an eerie silence.

  Then—

  The ground beneath the front ranks swelled — then burst open like a living creature rising from a nightmare.

  A massive, circur maw of stone and soil erupted from the dirt, opening into a gaping mouth lined with jagged rocky fangs. It swallowed the entire front line in one violent gulp.

  Grass shinobi leaped away instantly, but several were caught mid-step as the earth snapped shut around them and dragged them down screaming into its throat.

  Civilians charging behind them froze in horror.

  "NOPE!""NO, NO, NO—NO—!"

  One man hurled his rake into the sky and screamed

  "FUCK THIS SHIT, I'M OUT!"

  Pitchforks and rakes cttered to the ground as terrified vilgers ran in every direction, shrieking like their souls were escaping their bodies.

  "IT'S A MONSTER—!!!""THE EARTH IS EATING PEOPLE—!""AAAHHHHH—!! I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS—!!"

  Otis almost pitied them.

  Almost.

  Ninjas nded around Otis.

  Tantos drawn.Katanas raised.Chakra bzing.

  Otis rolled his shoulder.

  "Round two."

  Otis raised his hands, and a massive sb of stone erupted upward to guard his front.

  Shuriken bounced off, wind cws scraped lines across it and fireballs spshed and burst against it.

  Otis stepped through the smoke and swung his axe.

  The first ninja's sword met the axe and snapped clean in half, the top half spinning away.

  Three jonin leaped from behind, bdes coated in wind chakra.

  Otis spun, shield raised.

  CLANG—!! CRACK—!! CLANG—!!

  Wind-enhanced steel smmed into the shield, sparks exploding in every direction as the sword folded and bent almost instantly

  …a ninja flinched back, hands trembling violently as his wrist bones popped under the recoil.

  Otis smmed his shield into another shinobi's chest — a wet crack echoing as ribs gave way.

  A third tried to stab him from the side with a tanto. Otis ducked, rotated, and drove his knee into the man's throat.

  The ninja colpsed, choking on air he could no longer draw.

  Another leapt from behind with a kunai aimed for Otis's spine. The kunai was inches away from his spine when Otis raised one arm zily.

  An earth spike erupted upward and drove into the man's stomach, lifting him off his feet.

  A squad of chūnin rushed from the left, hands snapping through seals.

  "Lightning Release — Chain Web!!"

  Bolts jumped between them, forming a net of crackling energy that shot straight toward Otis—

  A pilr of stone erupted beneath Otis' feet, elevating him above the lightning as it crackled across the ground harmlessly below.

  Otis unched himself off the pilr straight into the squad.

  His shield crashed into the first ninja's chest — sending him flying into three others.

  Then Otis raised his axe, catching another attacker's bde — and shattered it like gss.

  Two more attacked from both sides.

  Otis twisted, catching one katana between his axe and shield, snapping it — then headbutting the other ninja so hard the man folded to the ground.

  A jonin attempted a close-range lightning strike.

  Otis caught his wrist, twisted, and used the man's own hand to fire the jutsu directly into his partner. Flesh sizzled. The man shrieked as the attack scorched him alive.

  Taro's forces surged in — hitting Grass-nin from behind.

  Taro shouted, "Push forward! Protect the children!"

  His seventy-man squad fanned out, locking the Grass army in a pincer.

  Kunai flew.Wind and fire mixed.Taro himself darted into a group of three jonin, his bde fshing like lightning.

  "Don't let any get behind Otis sama!" he yelled.

  "We won't!" his men answered in unison.

  Otis charged forward.

  A kunai flew toward his eye.

  He tilted his head — the bde missed by an inch and he caught the thrower by the face, hurling him into a tree at the side.

  Blood spttered across the bark.

  Another ninja rushed in, trying to sp an explosive sealing tag onto Otis's chest.

  Otis grabbed the tag mid-air, spped it onto the man's forehead and shoved him toward a group of his comrades.

  The seal blew up—

  BOOOOM—!!

  Screams. Bodies flew.

  From a rooftop, the earth clone flicked more chakra stones — hitting tendons, fingers and knees.

  Every ninja trying to fnk Otis colpsed screaming.

  "What the—?!""What keeps hitting us—?!""Where is it coming from—?!"

  The clone smirked as it shifted to another rooftop

  "You're too slow."

  A Grass ninja charged with a spear aimed directly at Otis's heart.

  Otis stepped aside.

  The spearhead scraped his ribs barely as he caught the man by the colr.

  "Try harder."

  He smmed the ninja into the earth so hard the ground fractured like cracked gss.

  Shuriken rained toward him —

  Otis deflected them with the ft side of his axe, sparks carving the air.

  A smoke bomb detonated.

  A ninja rushed in through the haze, hoping to catch him off guard—

  Otis grabbed is hand with the kunai

  "Predictable."

  Bodies were thrown across the ground.

  Their screams echoed.

  Smoke from their own jutsu mixed with dust and blood in the air, thick enough to sting the eyes.

  Fear turned to panic.

  "This isn't a man… it's a BEAST!""No—he's something else—!""We can't beat him—!!"

  Someone screamed

  "WHY DIDN'T ANYONE BACK OFF WHEN HE GAVE US THE CHANCE?!"

  Otis snapped a spear in half and stepped forward, swinging the broken piece like a club.

  It smmed through a group of shinobi, sending them flying into the air, crashing into the walls of nearby houses.

  "You had your chance," Otis said.

  Some shinobi screamed.Some begged.

  Otis heard none of it.

  He had looked at the experiments the night before. He had seen the suffering. They hadn't spared anyone — not even the children. Some were as young as three.

  Otis had seen their tiny bodies piled together in those hidden bs.

  This wasn't a battle.

  It was justice paid in blood.

  --

  Author’s Note:

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